Cherished Number Plates News

ePlates

15 September 2008

The UK-based licence plate manufacturer, Hills Numberplates Ltd, has chosen long-range RFID tags and readers to be embedded in licence plates that will automatically and reliably identify vehicles within in the UK.

The new e-Plates project uses RFID tags, which are embedded in the plates to identify vehicles.The e-Plates project has been under development for the past three years at a cost of more than £1 million, and is currently under consideration by a number of administrations. It is hoped that this e-Plate project will be one of the systems trialled by the UK Government in its forthcoming study of micro-chipped licence plates.

The plates are the same shape and size as conventional plates, and are permanently fitted to the vehicle in the same way. But each e-Plate contains an embedded tag with a unique, encrypted identification number that is transmitted for detection by RFID readers placed at strategic points in a given area.

The information available via these tags is the corresponding vehicle data such as registration number, owner details, make, model, colour, and tax/insurance renewal dates.

A key benefit of the e-Plate is that the tag provides an encrypted and secure ID code, which is registered in the UK Ministry of Transport’s vehicle database. This code prevents tampering, cloning, or other forms of the system being compromised my unsavoury types that can currently happen with camera-based systems. Also, if the e-plate is tampered with, the chip shatters and also transmits a warning signal, which may be picked up via a receiver.

According to Richard Taffinder, operations director for Hills Numberplates, the e-Plates were successfully developed to provide companies and public authorities with a more reliable way to positively identify and capture information on a vehicle.